Auckland, Sept 18 NZPA - A Hungarian man who successfully argued he was provoked when he bashed a 69-year-old to death with a banjo in Auckland will spend at least eight years in jail.

Ferdinand Ambach, 31, was today sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, with a minimum non-parole period of eight years, after a jury at the High Court in Auckland previously found him not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

Ambach had bashed Ronald Brown, 69, with a banjo after alleging the victim had made an unwanted sexual advance on him after a night drinking in suburban Onehunga.

Ambach's acquittal of murder, together with the unsuccessful use of provocation by Dunedin man Clayton Weatherson, were among the cases which led the Government to announce it was looking at outlawing provocation as a defence.

Weatherston was this week sentenced to a minimum of 18 years in jail as part of his life sentence for murdering ex-girlfriend Sophie Elliott.

Ambach had struck up a conversation with Mr Brown at a bar in December 2007, and then went back to his home.

There, Mr Brown was said to have touched Ambach on the thigh and on the groin, through his clothes.

Ambach subsequently bashed Mr Brown with a banjo before ramming the neck of the instrument down his throat.

He then extensively trashed Mr Brown's house, throwing a bed out of it and some other objects onto Mr Brown, who was seriously injured on the stairs.

During an emotional sentencing, three members of Mr Brown's family said Ambach's actions were vicious and cowardly and the arguments during the trial that Brown may have attempted to rape him were outrageous.

"Not only have you battered Ron's body...you trashed the good name of a man who was well loved and respected," Brown's sister Colleen Wise said.

"We had to endure my good brother's name being slandered. We had to listen to outrageous claims made in your defence, but we knew this for the rubbish it was."

Crown prosecutor Deborah Marshall said Justice Winkelmann could consider a life sentence for Ambach, but that he should get at least 10 to 12 years imprisonment.

She said it was a vicious attack on a vulnerable 69-year-old man drinking in his own home by a man who had shown no remorse.

Mrs Marshall said the jury was unlikely to have found Ambach was raped as there was no sign of a sexual assault.

She said the only acts of provocation the jury was likely to have found was touching on Ambach's thigh and groin for a very brief period.

Ambach's lawyer Peter Kaye said it was possible the jury found there was an attempted rape.

He said Ambach may not have expressed remorse to a probation officer because of problems with translation, and he was sorry for the harm caused to the family.

Justice Winkelmann, however, said the expression of remorse was very late in the piece and appeared to be self-serving.

"Yours was a truly cruel and brutal crime," she said, saying it was very close to being murder.

She said there was no evidence of any rape, and no evidence of Ambach's drink being spiked as he claimed.

"It was at the very lowest level of provocation capable of constituting provocation at law," Justice Winkelmann said.

She said the violence was "consistent with an attempt to annihilate Mr Brown and everything associated with him".

Ambach will be deported back to Hungary once he has completed his sentence.

Outside the court, Mr Brown's niece Tracey Evans said there was some satisfaction with the sentence but that the Government should move to abolish the partial defence of provocation immediately.

"Whilst we are still very upset that the partial defence of provocation has allowed a manslaughter verdict, we are delighted that the judge has recognised the true facts in the case and given Uncle Ron back the dignity he deserves," she said.

"The 12 year sentence has gone some way to giving us, the family, some sense of justice for the vicious killing of our brother and uncle.

"We are hoping that the repeal of the partial defence of provocation is imminent."

Police investigation head Detective Inspector Greg Cramer said the judge had distilled out the real facts of the case.

"That said, nothing is going to bring back Mr Brown."

Mr Kaye said an appeal against the sentence would be considered.

NZPA AKL ajb kk kn